.jpg "Syeda Mah-E-Muneer, MSc, MPH photo")
Assistant Scientist
icddr,b, Bangladesh
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
I, Syeda Mah-E-Muneer, am a public health researcher and have MSc in nutrition and MPH degrees. I have 15 years of experience in public health research including 10 years in infectious diseases research. Currently, I am working as an Assistant Scientist within the Infectious Diseases Division of icddr,b in Bangladesh. My main research focus includes healthcare-associated illnesses and antimicrobial resistance.
At present, I am co-leading two studies exploring the prevalence and risk factors of emerging infections in low- and middle-income settings such as Bangladesh. In a multi-country study, we are assessing the prevalence and risk factors of colonization with multidrug-resistant organisms in the community and hospital settings. In another study, we are exploring the magnitude of Candida Auris, an emerging multidrug resistant fungus, among ICU patients at tertiary-care hospitals at Dhaka city. Moreover, I have just completed a hospital-based surveillance for screening COVID-19 patients. I have also implemented a COVID-19 surveillance using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) platform across Bangladesh. I have been involved in a government-led initiative for strengthening the function of infection control and antibiotic stewardship committees in 12 tertiary hospitals across Bangladesh. All these projects are conducted in collaboration with the government of Bangladesh and funded by US CDC.
Since 2015, I have been leading a surveillance activity to identify healthcare-associated respiratory illnesses among hospitalized patients, healthcare personnel, and family caregivers in four public tertiary-care hospitals in Bangladesh. Before this study, I coordinated a pilot study on a community event-based early warning system for respiratory illness using cell phones in rural areas of Bangladesh in 2014, and I also coordinated field activities of a national hospital-based human influenza surveillance during 2009-10.
I am a professional member of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), and a life member of One Health Bangladesh.